Comparison Friday: Blue and Green Glitters

What what what is this?!  A blog post from little old me?  And a comparison no less!  The world MUST be coming to an end!  Hahah!  So, this past month and a half (almost 2 months), I've been without any contract work.  I've been working on a pro bono case some, but mainly I've been busting my hump on Blue-Eyed Girl Lacquers.  One would think that sitting at home all day would make it easy for me to blog more often, or at least to set up blog posts to auto-post, but apparently not.  And now that I have a gig again, I'm blogging again - even after working a 10 hour billable day and getting almost all of the outstanding BEGL orders packaged, weighed, and labeled!  I think it's an understatement when I say that I am pretty pooped.  I hate getting off a normal sleep schedule, so me staying up until 4 am some mornings this past month really hasn't helped much these past few days when I've had to be up early.  Bah!  Anyway, enough about me, let's get to the good stuff!  Tonight's post is an old one, as is evidenced by my old lighting setup and long-for-me nails (I've been rocking shorties and nubs for the past year, oy!).  This will be a short but sweet post, so hold on to your butts!

All polishes in tonight's post were purchased by me.

Tonight, I'm going to show you two blue and green glitters that, from the bottle, I thought would look a little bit closer on the nail.  I was definitely wrong.  Let's take a look at Pretty & Polished Beach Bum and Sonoma Nail Art 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea.

As you can see, they are both clear glitter toppers with predominantly green and blue glitters.  Neither are designed to be worn in layers without undies, so they are both definitely toppers.  All photos show one coat of each over Ozatic 517 in artificial light.

As you can see on the nail, however, Beach Bum has more green than blue and 20,000 Leagues has more blue than green.  Beach Bum also has a few gold glitters, while 20,000 Leagues has some white added in for good measure.

Beach Bum has more larger sized glitters than 20,000 Leagues, which has many more micro-glitters floating around in the mix.  

Also, the bases in these two were starkly different.  Beach Bum has a super super slight green tint from the glitters, which obscures the holo in the undies a little more than 20,000 Leagues.  It is also denser with more glitters in the base than 20,000 Leagues.  The base in 20,000 Leagues is crystal clear.  However, the base to glitter ratio is waaaaay more in favor of base to glitter.  If you're not careful, you'll get pooling if you try to get too much glitter on the brush.  As you can see, there aren't very many glitters on my nail, which was a bummer.

You can purchase Pretty & Polished polishes at her store here.  Follow her on Facebook, Twitter, and IG.  You can purchase Sonoma Nail Art at her store.  Follow her on Facebook, Twitter, and IG for news and updates.

Comparison Friday: Blue-Eyed Girl Lacquer April Showers Collection

Tonight's comparison is all about the new Blue-Eyed Girl Lacquer April Showers Collection that releases on Sunday, April 27, at 4:30 pm edt.  This post will be short on words and heavy on photos.  As always, click on the photo to see it in more detail.  I'm including some rare and special editions in this as well so you can see how those compare.  So, let's get started!

White

Dogwood vs. Untrodden Snow

Both are shown with three coats and a topcoat.  Dogwood is more jelly-like and has various sizes of flakies and shimmers.  Untrodden Snow is a creme with strong blue flash and blue microshimmers.

Pink/Orange/Neutral

Cherry Blossom vs. Flash Forward Fantasy vs. Peruvian Lily vs. <3

Clearly, Cherry Blossom and Peruvian Lily don't really mix in with the other two.  One is pink and the other is orange...  While Flash Forward Fantasy has a strong pink shimmer, which gives it a strong pink leaning, it's still neutral.  <3 and Flash Forward Fantasy both have the same base color, but FFF is a creme that dries matte and has a shift whereas <3 is a jelly with iridescent glitters.  All are shown with four coats except for <3, which is three coats.

Purple

Dew in Lieu of Frost vs. Purple Phlox vs. Ovaries before Brovaries

FiLoD is a darker purple and more of a blue purple than the other two and is a creme with a strong shift.  Purple Phlox is a straight up jelly without any additional shimmer, but it does include micro-iridescent glitters.  These glitters are different from the ones in Ovaries before Broveries.  Ovaries before Brovaries is a crelly with a shift and iridescent glitters, but it leans closer to a creme than a jelly.  However, at some angles, the base color in OBB and Purple Phlox is almost identical.  They both lean on the red side of the purple spectrum as compared to FiLoD, but the added shimmer in OBB changes the base just a tad making it a hair lighter than Purple Phlox.  All three polishes are shown with three coats.

Green

Essie Mint Candy Apple vs. Lady Slipper vs. Monster's Tea at Tiffany's vs. Zoya Wednesday

Unlike the other colors in the collection, I actually had a few mainstreams that I thought might be comparable.  While they are close, they're still very different.  Essie Mint Candy Apple is a creme that's also a giant pain in the butt.  It didn't self level and it would bald easily.  Lady Slipper's base color is closest in color to MCA, but application was easier and it has a shift to it.  Monster's Tea at Tiffany's is a few shades darker than Lady Slipper but lighter than Wednesday.  The shift in MTaT is a green to red, which is also different from Lady Slipper's blue to pink shift.  Lastly is Wednesday, which is much darker than all the rest and is a plain creme.  All polishes are in three coats, except MTaT, which is only two.

Blue

Hydrangea vs. Sordid End

This one's a pretty clear difference.  Sordid End is much darker than Hydrangea and has a strong teal to purple shift.  Hydrangea has teal, blue, and purple shimmers and is in a crelly base.  Sordid End has a creme base versus Hydrangea's crelly.  Both polishes are shown in three coats.

I hope this comparison has helped to show that this new collection is pretty unique within the BEGL line.  These will be released on Sunday, April 27, at 3:30 pm edt at my store here.  This will be a relatively small restock, so get there early and be ready!  Some of these colors may come back after this release depending on popularity, but please note that I'm currently planning to retire them after this restock.  Follow me on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter for news and updates, or sign up for the newsletter here.

Comparison Friday: Black and White Glitter Toppers

So, I'm writing this post on Thursday to auto post today because I'm at Six Flags with the hubby and a friend!  Yay!  It's been so long since I've been, so I'm pretty excited.  This week's comparison is a bit of a rehash, sort of...  I've already done a comparison here with four black and white glitter toppers, but I've since acquired the mother of all black and white glitter toppers - Lynnderella Connect the Dots!  Every time I hear Connect the Dots I think: 

So, that being said, let's take a look at Connect the Dots versus Cover Band's Sticks 'n Stones!

I purchased all of the polishes in this review.

First, here's a photo of the first comparison in case you don't feel like clicking on the link up top.

And now on to the main event!  First, the similarities.  Well, there's the obvious that they're both black and white with hexes, squares, and bars.  Also, both have some sort of iridescent shimmer to them, but that's pretty much where the similarities end!  All photos are taken with one coat of glitter topcoat over OPI Rumples Wiggin and one coat of topcoat in my old lighting setup.

Connect the Dots

Connect the Dots has a densely packed silver iridescent flakie shimmered base where Sticks 'n Stones is in a clear base with larger iridescent glitters.  Furthermore, CtD has several smaller glitters than SnS, too, with a bevy of tiny black hexes.  Application of CtD is easiest of the two, with a great glitter to base payoff.  The glitters come out of the bottle easily without the need for fishing and spread without much manipulation.  There was no danger of flooding my cuticles because I didn't feel the need to load up on polish to get enough glitter on the brush.  Cleanup was easy, and removal wasn't too bad.  You can purchase Lynnderella polishes at their store here, and since Connect the Dots is a mainstay of their core line, you can easily purchase it here!

Sticks 'n Stones

Sticks 'n Stones is lacking in the smaller glitters and the shimmered base as compared to CtD.  It's got a clunkier look as compared to CtD.  Application wasn't that great, to be honest.  The glitter to base ratio is in favor of base instead of glitter.  If you loaded up on glitter on the brush, then you'd definitely have flooding of the cuticles.  So, if you want a more dense look, you'd definitely need more than one coat.  As you can see, the middle of my nails with SnS on them have some bald spots.  That's because the glitters slid down to the sides of my fingers while it was drying.  Not awesome or cute.  Furthermore, I did have to dig some to get the glitters out of the bottle.  You can purchase Sticks 'n Stones from Ninja Polish.

So, it's pretty obvious that my choice is the Lynnderella.  What about you?  Which is your favorite?

I purchased all of the polishes in this review.

Comparison Friday: Fuchsia Holos

So yeah, this comparison is totally going up after midnight, so it's technically Comparison Saturday...  Oh well!  Let's all play a little game of pretend and pretend that I didn't slack off all day today when I could've been working on this post...  M'kay?  Ok.  Let's take a look at tonight's offerings: Enchanted Polish May 2013, China Glaze Astro-Hot, and Jindie Nails Just Claws.

I purchased all polishes or received them as gifts from friends.

First, the similarities!  All three of these polishes are two coats for fully opaque coverage.  They're all in the same range of fuchsia, but that's pretty much where the similarities end.

May 2013

May is definitely the brightest of the three and looks almost like a neon.  This is two easy coats that required very little effort.  It required absolutely no cleanup, either, which is fantastic!  It's got a linear holographic refraction, but it's not as tight as Astro-Hot.  Sadly May was a one-time release, so you won't be able to purchase it directly from Enchanted Polish.  However, you can purchase other polishes from Enchanted here.  Make sure you sign up for her newsletter to ensure you're up to date with all of the new releases!

Astro-Hot

Astro-Hot is the dullest of the three shade-wise.  It's also more metallic than May or Just Claws.  The linear refraction is the tightest of the three, but it's also harder to see in the low light without the help of the sun.  Application was much more difficult.  I didn't use an aqua base because it wasn't necessary, but it's still a polish that requires quick application.  Don't go over the same spot twice until the polish has dried, otherwise you will get balding and clumping.  Astro-Hot also shows all of the imperfections in your nails, so you may want to wear it over a ridge filling base coat.  Astro-Hot was a part of the China Glaze Hologlam collection that came out last year (maybe in 2012?), but you can still find it easily at Sally's or on blog sales.

Just Claws

Just Claws is second in brightness for this trio.  It's also the most scattered of the three with irregularly shaped holographic particles that bring out the reds, pinks, and oranges of the rainbow most.  The particles also give it the most depth of the three polishes.  Application is super easy and required little cleanup.  Dry time was fast, too.  You can purchase Jindie Nails polishes at her store here.

So, what do you think?  I know we looked at May last week, but that was in relation to February 2014. Which is your favorite?

I purchased all polishes or received them as gifts from friends.